


The First's Apprentice

by YinNocturne



Series: The Nameless Anthology [2]
Category: CARROLL Lewis - Works, The Jabberwocky - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Podfic Available, Poem expansion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:45:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2567021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YinNocturne/pseuds/YinNocturne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It is time you heard the greatest of our legends: The Jabberwock. It is the story of when the First’s Apprentice slew the Terror that had plagued these woods for many a season. It is the reason there is always a Hunter and his Son in the Grevbourne forest.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First's Apprentice

**Author's Note:**

> I did this as part of my final project for Media this year - which was to create 40-50 mins of audio, based around the theme of 'reality'. Given that I've been wanting to podfic something for a while, I jumped on the chance. So now, month later, with much help from Vecna, who is my co-reader in the audio and helped edit both stories; and to my mum for pointing out the many logical fallacies - thank you for your lack of suspension of disbelief.

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves  
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.  
All mimsy were the borogoves,  
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!  
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!  
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand,  
Long time the manxome foe he sought --  
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,  
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,  
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,  
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,  
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through!  
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!  
He left it dead, and with its head  
He went galumphing back.

"And, hast thou slain the Jabberwock?  
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!  
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'  
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves  
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.  
All mimsy were the borogoves,  
And the mome raths outgrabe.

~ The Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll  
From the book 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There'

 

* * *

The First’s Apprentice

“Come boy, sit.” The master said, gesturing to a spot near the fire. “It is time you heard the greatest of our legends: The Jabberwock. It is the story of when the First’s Apprentice slew the Terror that had plagued these woods for many a season. It is the reason there is always a Hunter and his Son in the Grevbourne forest.”

The Son of the current Master Hunter sat with an eagerness he rarely displayed anymore, being of the age where he thought it unbecoming to do certain things he thought would appear juvenile. “The Jabberwock, Master Hunter? But, sir, what is a Jabberwock?” he queried, he hadn't heard of such a thing before in all of his 15 summers. He supposed, though, that it might have been something only the Hunter’s Ilk spoke of and he was quite new an Apprentice, taken on by his Master only a season ago as a favour. It was quite likely he just had not heard of it before.

“The Jabberwock is a mighty beast, Son. One that you ought be thankful no longer roams these woods. They say that 5,000 years ago the Jabberwock settled, just north of here; in the very centre of the forest, near Kyt’s Mountain. The exact accounts of its appearance have long since been turned to dust, but some say it was a dragon like being, others that it was a great avian creature. But the one thing they all agree on is its might. Its jagged teeth; long, curved claws and a spiked tail; covered from head to toe with hard scales.”

“But Master Hunter, if the beast was so fearsome, how did the First’s Apprentice manage to slay it?” The boy was getting more and more excited and the tale had barely begun.

“I will get there, young man. Patience is one of the foundations of being a Hunter, best you learn that quickly.” He said, casting a disapproving eye over his new Apprentice. “Now where was I… Ah yes. Now the Jabberwock was starting to cause great problems, not only in Grevbourne Forest, but the lands to the north and east as well. It was destroying people’s livelihoods – eating livestock and flattening entire sections of land. The Jabberwock was also coming dangerously close to the castle. So a year after the Jabberwock settled King Valian sent out a missive to all the towns within his lands. A bounty, for the person who could slay the Jabberwock, from the Kings own coffers. With a reward like that on the line, every able-bodied man rushed into the forest to try their luck. None survived. In 100 years the Jabberwock slew a good third of the population. By now it was King Valian’s great-grandson who sat on the throne and he was desperate to find a way to stop the devastation. He consulted his advisors, the Shamans of the North and the Diviners of the East. No one could give him a solution. Then, one day, an old man appeared, his apprentice behind him and claimed that they could rid the Kingdom of the Jabberwock. Delirious with joy, the King said ‘I would give you anything you desire, if only you would rid me of this beast!’. Two weeks later they left, following the source stream of the lake that provided the castle’s water.”

“What was their reward, Master Hunter? Was it gold? Jewels? The Princess’s hand in marriage?” The Master Hunter could clearly see the greed and want in his Son’s eyes, and he frowned.

“Never you mind, it won’t do you any good, thinking of riches in this life. Here we live off the land; there is no need or use for wealth. Nonetheless, you will find out what they asked as their reward at the end of the story.”

“Now this next part of the story is something only the Hunter’s Ilk knows of, so no spreading it about, clear?” After receiving a nod of admission from his Apprentice he began again. “As they progressed westward through the forest the old man said to his apprentice, ‘I have taught you all I know, there is nothing left. However, before you leave my service, I wish for you to pass a test.’ He turned to his apprentice, with a serious look in his eye, ‘I want you to slay this Jabberwock, prove that you have learnt all I have taught. Then, and only then, will I release you from your apprenticeship.’ Sensing the deadly seriousness of his master’s words, he agreed without protest.”

“But why, Master Hunter? Why would he agree to slay such a fearsome creature?”

“That is enough Apprentice! You will sit down, shut your trap and keep it that way or I will halt this story until I believe that you can sit still until it ends. You are acting like a child who’s eaten too much honey. And to answer your question, I believe he agreed because he respected his Master, just as my brother-hunters and I respected mine.”

With one last glare at his wayward Son, he continued. Hoping vainly that that would be the last interruption. “As night fell they quickly set up camp in a small clearing near a stream. The apprentice gathered wood for a campfire as the old man fished for their dinner. After they had finished their meal, he told his apprentice the conditions for his task, ‘You will receive no help from me. You may take with you only what you can carry and I expect you back within one moon cycle or I will presume you are dead and make my way back to the Castle Halio to give the King my regrets. Understood?’ He gave his apprentice the tooth that hung around his neck on a strip of leather. The boy accepted the token, ‘You’ll be alright out here in the mean time, old man? he said. ‘Don’t you worry about me boy, I’ve been doing this longer than you’ve been alive,’ the Master replied, ‘As long as you aren’t getting too long in the tooth father,’ the Apprentice quipped. ‘The day I’m too long in the tooth, son, is the day I see your Apprentice with a Son of his own!’ the Master countered and they both settled down to sleep. At first light the next morning the boy gathered his pack, a bedroll, slid his sword into its sheath on his back, his dagger into his belt and picked up his bow and quiver. With a nod to his master he disappeared into the trees, and the faded into the faint light of dawn.”

At this point the Master Hunter paused for moment to take sip from his canteen. Holding it in a loose grip he stared into the flames of their campfire as he continued, “The boy walked for days, tracking the beast, trying to find its lair. He travelled north through the footholds of Kyt’s Mountain, circling to the east as he looked for signs of the Jabberwock’s presence - broken branches, large scratches in the earth and very occasionally a mottled green feather, detouring only to gather what foodstuffs he could easily find in the forest he was tracking through. Finally on the day of the crescent moon, he found it. Frustrated by his unfamiliarity with the surrounding lands he had climbed the TumTum tree. Secure in the knowledge that it could easily support his weight, he perched in its highest branches. As he surveyed lands to the north he spotted a large oddly coloured lump on a cliff half way up the barren mountainside. He sat and watched the shape, and sure enough only a few hours later -”

“He really waited for hours up in that tree?” the incredulity in his Apprentice’s voice was clear, and the Master Hunter despaired, the boy truly didn’t have the mindset of a hunter yet.

“Yes, Son, he did and his patience paid off; when dusk fell it stretched out giant wings and flew off toward the township. The beginnings of a plan of attack formed in his mind, he would sleep in the lower branches of the Tumtum tree that night and set off toward the mountain the next morning. He tucked himself into a comfortable hollow where an old branch had fallen out long ago, nibbling on the nuts and berries he had collected the previous days. He would rise at first light and follow a stream he had seen from the top of the TumTum tree up the mountain.”

The Master Hunter paused to toss another log onto their campfire before he continued, “As the Apprentice made his way to the cliff he had seen the Jabberwock nesting on from the TumTum tree he made his plan. It was simple, but the best plans always were, he would attack as dusk fell on the night of the new moon. It was always best to attack beasts of magick when they were made weaker by the new moon, though the Apprentice new he would need the sun’s light to fully carry out his plan. His suspicions of the Jabberwock’s unnatural origins were confirmed the night after he slept in the TumTum tree, when he watched the Jabberwock fly out of his clifftop nest and return far sooner than it had only a day before.”

Seeing that his Apprentice was about to interrupt with yet another inane question he put up his hand to forestall him and growled, “If you so much as utter another sound …” he trailed off menacingly, raising an eyebrow as his apprentice firmly shut his mouth. Eyeing him to make sure he stayed quiet, he told the rest of the tale, “The details of the battle itself are unknown, but we do know that the boy’s plan worked splendidly for he slew the Jabberwock at dusk on the night of the new moon. He took it’s head as proof of his triumph and made his way back to the place his Master had made camp. He arrived to an almost full moon sharing the sky with the sun. ‘You almost ran out of time,’ his Master told him in greeting. ‘But you didn’t doubt me once, or you wouldn’t have sent me.’ the Apprentice said calmly, setting the Jabberwock’s head before his master for inspection. ‘That is true,’ the Master confirmed as he bent to carve an incisor from the Jabberwocks maw. ‘Here, I’ll take mine back now, you’ve had it long enough.’ the Master said and exchanged it for the tooth he had given his Apprentice the day he left, nearly a full moon cycle earlier. They took the Jabberwock’s head back to the Castle Halio and it is mounted in the throne room with the Apprentice’s sword displayed underneath it, as a testament to his prowess.”

“But Master Hunter, what was his reward?” the Apprentice burst out, unable to keep the question he had clearly been harbouring since the beginning inside a moment longer.

“You would do well to keep your mouth shut. I have half a mind to not tell you at all. But then you would be laughing stock and so would I for not having taught you properly,” the Master Hunter said, shaking his head in exasperation. “The old man wished that his apprentice would be welcomed in these lands forever and always and the boy said he wished to give his answer on another day. In the end he chose his reward to be to grant immunity to all members of the Hunter’s Ilk, his chosen family of hunters. Now that you know the history and foundation of the Hunter’s Ilk, you will go to bed, and not bother me until the sun is in the middle of the sky.”

The Son scurried off, climbing into his bedroll. But he memorized that tale and told it to his Apprentices, who later told it to their Apprentices and so on until it was immortalized in print many years later.


End file.
